Tough day

Well – I’m afraid to say that the rucksack hasn’t felt much lighter today. I’m happy with the distance I’ve walked but am low on water, so need to find a place to get more tomorrow morning. A nice man pointed me in the direction of a shop towards the end of today, but a point of the finger is difficult to follow for a kilometre, and there were no other people to ask.

Early on in the day I got an extra liter of Kai Shui – boiled water – from a nice woman that was not afraid of me. People seem to be very friendly here. I asked her if she had seen other foreigners walking the Great Wall and she nodded. I asked if it was an Australian and she nodded again. Not sure if she was just being polite though. If it was an Australian, it was probably Mark that walked the Great Wall in 2007.

The terrain has been challenging at times. It is full of steep valleys because of earth erosion. At one place I asked a farmer how to get to the other side. He walked me close to a cliff, stopped me and shook his head as if to warn me not to get too close. (I see fresh landslides about every day here). He then pointed further down and when I looked closely I could see a very narrow track clinging to the side. I walked along the top of the cliff for 50 metres to find the entry point. The first metres of the decline were pretty uncomfortable, but after that there was no going back. I’m very glad I had the walking sticks.